And Everything Nice
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: It's Astro and Uran's first day in the Metro City - New Townsville district middle school where they are classmates with Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, just as Lamp and Skunk team up with other villains to wreak havoc in town. Astro and the PPG's team up to save the city!
1. Chapter 1

**And Everything Nice**

** 1.**

**Astro **and Uran looked in the mirror at themselves, and each other. "I'm not so sure about this." Uran said.

"You don't want to stay a little kid all your life, do you?" Astro said.

"The two of you have made so many human friends." Dr. O'Shay said. "Surly the two of you want to go to middle school with them. You can't be the smallest kids in your class. Your friends are growing up, you need to also."

Astro nodded. Both of them were now a bit taller than they had been a week ago. Uran was also a bit, well rounder and shapelier that she had been, Astro looked a bit more muscular.

"Tomorrow, the two of you get enrolled in Middle School." O'Shay said. "You'll be with your friends, and you'll meet some new ones."

"That will be fun, won't it sis?" Astro said to Uran.

"I guess so, Ani" Uran sighed.

* * *

**The** Metro City New Townsville district Middle School was a longer bus ride from the O'Shay house than their Elementary school had been. Getting off the bus for the first time, Uran felt a bit scared, but Astro was already used to it being a year ahead of his sister. "Don't worry Uran," He said. "You'll be fine. I'll wait for you by the bus when school lets out later today."

"OK, Ani." Uran said as she walked the other way to her home room. "I'll see you later."

Uran kept turning her head around to catch a glance at Astro as he disappeared around a corner. She wasn't looking where she was going when another student on a skateboard slammed into her. Uran and the older girl picked themselves up off the ground and looked at each other.

"Baka!" the older girl yelled at Uran. "Don't you know better than to walk into the path of someone going the other way?" Uran almost started to cry. She stared at the kid who had just crashed into her. She was about half a head taller than her, dressed in green shorts and a green shirt. She also had vividly green eyes and short dark hair under a green baseball cap.

"Gee, I'm sorry." Uran almost sobbed. "It's my first day here and I guess I'm a bit scared."

The older student picked up her skateboard and seemed relieved that it wasn't damaged. "Gee, I guess I was a bit nervous on my first day of the new school year as well," she said offering Uran a hand. "My name is Buttercup. Welcome to the New Townsville Middle School."

"Gee thanks." Uran said. "My name is Uran. Err, do you know where room 212 would be? I think I'm lost."

"It's on the way to my homeroom." Buttercup said. "Jump on the back of my board, I'll give you a ride there!"

The two of them balanced on the skateboard as Buttercup weaved in and out of traffic in the hallways, getting dirty looks from all the teachers. "This is fun!" Uran giggled. "Ani is going to be jealous!"

Buttercup braked her board to a stop in front of Uran's home room. "Here's your stop!" she said just as the first bell rang. "Crap! I'm gonna be late again for class!" Buttercup moaned, "Gotta run! See you later maybe!" She pushed off and flew down the hallway on the skateboard as Uran walked into the classroom and looked for a seat.

* * *

**Astro **found his homeroom easy enough. He looked at the chart posted on the blackboard and found the seat assignment that the teacher had already made. Astro quickly found his seat, just as a girl with long red hair wearing a bright orange dress entered the room. She also looked up her seat assignment and walked back to her desk, right in front of Astro! She turned around and noticed the robot boy and smiled at him.

"Hey, you're new here aren't you?" she said, "What's your name, My name is Blossom."

"Hi!" Astro said with a bit of a lump in is throat. "I'm Astro, maybe you've heard of me?"

"Nope!, never have." Blossom said, her brown eyes meeting his. "Glad to meet you though."

A crowd of other students entered the room, some of them were smart enough to look up their seat assignments, others just stood near the doorway making conversation with each other. Astro saw Kenichi and Tamao wander in and find their seats, and he waved in their direction. Just then a girl with short blond hair done up in two braids entered the room. She was wearing a bright blue dress, and had the most stunningly blue eyes Astro had ever seen. The girl took the seat to the right of Blossom and blinked at her and then turned to Astro. "Hey who's the cute new kid in the class Blossom, you can't keep him for yourself!"

"Hi" Astro blushed, "I'm Astro."

"My name is Bubbles" the newcomer laughed.

The classroom was now almost filled up. One more student rode into the room on a skateboard. Astro stared at the newcomer, a real tomboy dressed in bright green shorts and a green T shirt as well as a green baseball cap. She kicked her skateboard up into the air and caught it, then carried it over to her seat to the left of Blossom, who stared knowingly at her. "Just missed the late bell Buttercup!" Blossom said.

"Yeah, well I ran into this new kid and had to help her to her homeroom." Buttercup said, turning to see who was behind her and to her right. "Hey sport, like to play soccer?" She asked Astro, making eye contact with him with her vivid green eyes.

* * *

"**Co-ed **P.E. class?" Astro muttered looking at his class schedule.

"We still have separate locker rooms." Buttercup answered. "And I'm going to kick your butt on the soccer field!"

"We'll see about that!" Astro answered defensively.

The first three classes of the day were rather boring with the teachers handing out textbooks and reading assignments. Astro stashed his math, history, and science textbooks in his locker and headed for the gymnasium for P.E. He hoped that the instructor wouldn't take the class outside to the ball field for the day's workout, and it seemed he might luck out on that score as the first order of business was handing out their gym uniforms. That process involved sizing everybody up so they'd all get uniforms that fit. However, as soon as he entered the locker room and saw the dozen robots quickly measuring each student and handing them their gym shorts, shirts, and shoes it was clear that the entire class would be outfitted in no time.

Astro was one of the last students outfitted, and by the time he had changed into his P.E. uniform and entered the gymnasium most of the class was already assembled there. The girls were on one side of the room, and the boys on the other. Mr. Gehrig, their P.E. teacher blew his whistle and called the class to order.

"Well student's that was great timing, I see you are all outfitted and dressed, we still have over a half hour of class left." Mr. Gehrig said, "Plenty of time for a little game of soccer."

He quickly ran around the room and separated the class into two mixed groups with about the same number of boys and girls on each side. "Perfect!" He announced, "Let's head outside and kick some balls around!"

Astro found himself on the same team as Kenichi and Tamao. He looked across the field at the other group and saw Buttercup balancing a spinning ball on the tip of her left index finger. She was staring at him as if daring him to play against her.

Mr. Gehrig blew his whistle for the teams to line up. He took the ball from Buttercup and stood in the middle of the field. He then tossed the ball up and blew his whistle. Both sides charged at the ball. Kenichi reached it first and started kicking it towards the goal. He and Tamao passed the ball back an forth, and then Tamao kicked it towards Astro who was now in the clear. Astro took aim and kicked the ball towards the goal, but Buttercup ran in just in time and intercepted his delivery. Now she and another girl relayed the ball towards the goal on the other side of the field. She lined up a shot and attempted to score.

Now it was Astro's turn to prevent a goal. Buttercup's kick drove the ball high on a line drive towards the goal. Astro leaped into the air and headed the ball back towards the other side of the field. Tamao whispered to Kenchi, "Astro's gone hyper! I hope no one noticed that little bit of jet exhaust!"

Astro ran after the ball. Without realizing it, he had suddenly become crazed with the game and was determined to score no matter what. He moved like a blur, using perhaps a bit more of his 100,000 hp than he should, behaving more like a robot than a boy in school with other humans.

Buttercup also was caught up in the moment. Her eyes glowed with a green light as she unconsciously put more than just a bit of powerpuff into her movements to intercept the ball from Astro and blast it across the field with a power kick. Just as the end of class bell sounded, the ball knocked over the goal on Astro's team's side of the field.

"I told you I'd kick your butt!" Buttercup yelled at Astro. "Hi Five!" she added, slapping his hand with her open palm.

Back in the locker room, Astro sat next to Kenichi and Tamao on the bench, changing back into his school uniform.

"I wonder if that girl with the green eyes is a robot?" Tamao said. "She sure out powered you there Astro."

"No, she's no robot." Astro said. "I would have noticed that. But there is something different about her that I can't figure out."

* * *

**The **lunch bell rang and Astro found his friends Kenichi, Tamao, and Shub had already staked out a table in the lunchroom, so he joined them. "Hi guys!" Astro said, "How's your day going so far."

"As usual." Shub said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Same here." Tamao and Kenichi replied together.

The boys had each brought a bag lunch with them. While Astro didn't really need to eat, he did bring his usual thermos bottle of an oil mixture to help with his body's need for lucubration and hydration for cooling. Lunchtime for him was more of a social thing, and his friends understood that and went along with it.

* * *

**Uran** found an empty table away from the crowd to spend her lunch hour. She was about to open up her lunch box and remove her thermos when three girls wearing bright colors invaded her territory. They each were carrying a tray of food from the kitchen area. "Hi Uran! Mind if we join you?" Buttercup yelled as she took a seat on the other side of the table from her. Bubbles and Blossom took seats on either side of Buttercup. "Hey guys, this is the new kid I told you about!" Buttercup said. "Uran, these are my bestest friends, Blossom and Bubbles."

"Hello." Uran said meekly. "Glad to meet you, I guess."

The three girls quickly attacked their ramen with chopsticks. Bubbles and Blossom ate with dignity, but Buttercup slurped her noodles into her mouth, making loud noises. Uran opened her thermos bottle and slowly sipped her oil and water.

"You on a diet or something?" Buttercup asked. "Don't you want any lunch?"

"Yeah, you look like you could use to put on a little weight, you're so skinny." Blossom said.

Bubbles leaned over to get a better look at Uran and what was in her thermos.

"Hey you guys, leave her alone." Bubbles said, "Can't you see that she's a robot?"

"Really?" Buttercup said, "How can you tell?"

"I just can!" Bubbles said, getting up from her seat and carrying her tray over to the other side of the table to sit next to Uran. "Don't let them bother you!" she said giving Uran a hug.

For the remainder of the lunch hour Uran and Bubbles were busy exchanging girl talk. Blossom and Buttercup quietly finished their lunch, and then walked off to sit outside till the bell for the next class rang.


	2. Chapter 2

**And Everything Nice**

** 2.**

"**So **how was your first day of middle school?" Dr. O'Shay asked.

"GREAT!" Uran yelled. "I made friends with a real nice girl who's in an upper class."

"What's her name?" Astro asked.

"Bubbles." Uran answered.

"Does she have these real blue eyes and blond hair tied up in two pigtails?" Astro asked.

"Yes, that's her." Uran said, "Why?"

"Oh she's in my homeroom class." Astro answered. "She hangs out with two other girls, one of which is in my P.E. class. Buttercup is one heck of a soccer player, but there's something weird about her though. Tamao was sure that she was a robot the way she played against me. She's definitely not a robot, but is sure a great athlete."

"Yeah, I bumped into her on the way to my homeroom." Uran responded. "She gave me a ride on her skateboard. She's a real tomboy for sure."

* * *

**Professor **Utonium and his son Ken lived in a laboratory complex not too far from the New Townsville district middle school. Ken was a boy genius who had gotten his P.H.D. at the age of nine after being home schooled by his father. Ken built his own robot dog named Poochi that has ESP abilities. School had just let out for the day when father and son were busy working on their latest invention. Suddenly the laboratory door slammed open and three teenage girls barged into the room.

"Hi Blossom, Hello Bubbles, Yo Buttercup!" Ken said without looking up.

"How'd you know it was us?" Bubbles asked chewing a wad of bubble gum.

"You always come over here at this hour after school to steal some of my candy." Ken said.

"Yeah well that's cheap payment for saving the day so often!" Buttercup said, grabbing a handful of Peanut Butter cups from Ken's stash.

"Well at least it's been quiet in the district this week," the Professor said, "the PPG's haven't had to save the day for several weeks in fact."

"Yeah, it's almost a bit spooky isn't it?" Blossom said. "I hope you haven't jinxed us saying that!"

"Well, we got to get going!" Buttercup yelled running for the door.

"See Ya!" Bubbles and Blossom added together as they headed outside.

Ken looked up at his dad and said, "You know Dad, I've run into something on the 'web."

"What is it son?" Professor Utonium asked.

"I've hacked into the school database to see what teachers the girls might be having this year and found the school student registry." Ken said. "You know who is now attending New Townsville district Middle school?"

"I guess you're going to tell me."

"Astro Boy and his sister Uran. Looks like the Power Puff's may be having a little help if the bad guys try anything!"

* * *

**Skunk **Kusai sat in his hideout in the basement of a dilapidated townhouse in a low rent neighborhood of the New Townsville district. His partner Acetylene Lamp was snoring on a cot in the back of the room. "I tell you Lamp," Skunk said, knowing the other man was asleep, "We've got to figure out how to make a score and grab us some spending capital to restart our operation. Maybe with any luck that stupid robot kid won't find us clear across town in this district."

Lamp coughed and rolled over. "I'd be able to grab some needed shuteye if you'd keep your G-D mouth shut!"

"You've been snoring for hours!" Skunk replied back, "and keeping me awake. 'Bout time you got up anyhow!"

Lamp fidgeted in his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled out a lighter from his pocket and tried striking it several times. All he got was sparks, the Bic was out of gas. Skunk grabbed the fag out of Lamp's mouth and lit it from the candle flame atop his partner's head, blowing smoke back at him.

"Gimme that!" Lamp yelled grabbing the cancer stick back from Skunk and stuffing it back into his mouth. He picked up a newspaper that he'd been reading a few hours ago and quickly thumbed through the pages. "Here, take a look at this!" he said.

Skunk read quickly scanned the news article that had caught the attention of his partner. "New Townsville auction house to handle the sale of Mrs. Morebuck's Jewelry. Over 5000 carats of diamonds to be auctioned off, proceeds to go to charity. The auction house will open early on Tuesday to allow potential bidders to view the items up for sale." He read.

"I bet they've already got the goods locked up in their safe in the basement." Lamp said. "We can break in late tonight and help ourselves."

"I haven't cracked a safe in years." Skunk replied.

"Well I didn't get the nickname 'Acetylene' for nothing!" Lamp laughed, pointing to the welding torch sitting behind him. "I should be able to cut my way into that thing quite easily with my equipment!"

* * *

**Very** early the next morning an old rusty van with bald tires made its way into the downtown New Townsville district. One headlamp on the vehicle was improperly aimed off to the side, the other headlamp glowed dimly because of bad wiring. A thin veil of blue smoke trailed behind the van which was burning oil due to bad rings in its tired engine. Lamp babied the clutch which was badly worn, carefully shifting from first to third gear, as the transmission refused to lock into second. He missed the sync point while shifting causing the gear box to grind past second with a moaning sound.

"Why are you still driving this POS?" Skunk moaned.

"It's better than walking." Lamp sniped back. "I don't have the yen to replace this vehicle."

"Hopefully that will change after tonight." Skunk replied.

Lamp found the address they were looking for and parked the van in an alley behind the building. He turned the key in the ignition to shut down the engine, which continued to diesel for a few seconds before finally wheezing to a stop with a loud sigh, and a huge cloud of black smoke.

"You check the rear door for any alarms and I'll get my torch out of the back." Lamp told Skunk.

"Right, I'm on it." Kusai said, making his way towards the back door of the auction house. He surveyed the area around him. The rear of the building fronted on an alley situated between the it and a vacant lot that once held a gas station. The lot was now fenced in, and several warning signs had been erected as the property was dug up. There was a large hole in the ground and several dump trucks and a backhoe were parked there. A strong smell of gasoline wafted from the excavation. It seemed that there must have been a fuel leak sometime in the past and a cleanup operation was now in progress before the property could be put to another use.

Skunk removed a flashlight from his pocket and shined it on the door. He carefully examined the door frame, and the wall around it. Smiling, he pulled a pair of wire cutters from his pocket and carefully stripped an alarm cable, then shorted two wires together. Satisfied with his handiwork he then went to work on the door lock with a set of picks. It took him nearly ten minutes to unlock the door, which he slowly pulled open. Nothing happened.

"You're getting old." Lamp laughed. "Ten years ago you'd have had that door unlocked in only a minute or two."

"Yeah, and the alarm would have gone off." Skunk sneered. "I might not be as fast as I used to be, but I'm nowhere as careless as I was either."

Lamp pulled the hand truck to which was attached two gas cylinders behind him. He carried the torch head and its attached hoses around his neck like a doctor carried a stethoscope. They found the staircase leading down towards the basement, the wheels of Lamp's welding cart bouncing on each step. Skunk waved his flashlight around in the dark looking for the vault room. The basement stank from dampness and a vague petrol odor which Skunk figured came in with them from the old gas station behind the alley. At the end of a hallway he found a door leading into the front section of the building. Skunk carefully checked the door for an alarm, and found none. It took him longer to work on the lock on this door, he guessed it hadn't been opened in a long time and the tumblers in the lock were stiff. Yet the door opened easily once he'd unlocked it, and they moved inside. It was obvious that they were now in the auction house proper, the floor was nicely tiled and the walls plastered and painted as opposed to the rear of the basement that had bare concrete floors and cinder block walls.

"Smells richer in here." Lamp said, "now where is the safe?"

They walked past an elevator and turned a corner. Yet another locked door lay in front of them. Once again Skunk looked carefully for signs of an alarm trip, and found one. He removed an electrical panel cover from the wall and stared at a maze of telephone and Ethernet cables. It took him several minutes to trace out the maze of wires and to insert a pair of alligator jumper clips to short out the alarm. He then worked on the lock with his burglary tools. Skunk pushed the door open, and smiled.

"Now that's a nice safe!" he grinned. "Think you can cut your way in?"

Lamp grabbed the torch from Skunk and examined the steel monster. "It looks impressive, but it has an Achilles heel," Lamp said. "This model has extra thick walls, but the hinge attachments are not up to the usual standards. I can cut though the metal there in less than twenty minutes and the door will just fall off."

Lamp adjusted the valves on the oxygen and acetylene tanks for the right mixture and fired up his torch. He adjusted the cutting head for a long thin blue flame and began to work on the safe. The torch cut through the metal making a roaring sound like a jet engine spooling up for takeoff. Skunk stepped back to give his partner room to work. He patted his shirt pocket and smiling, pulled a nearly new cigar from where he'd placed it almost a day ago. Kusai lit the stogie and pulled in a long drag. He then heard a loud metallic clang as the door fell off the safe.

"Good work!" Skunk said.

"I told you I knew how to open this thing up." Lamp said.

The two thieves ransacked the safes contents searching for the diamonds. They quickly found several strong boxes filled with diamond-paper envelopes containing the unmounted gems. They divided the boxes between them and made their exit the way they had come in.

They reentered the dank rear of the basement, and Skunk started to cough from the fumes. He threw his still burning cigar into the corner of the room, Lamp left his equipment in the corner of the room. "Leaving your tools behind?" Skunk asked.

"I'll buy myself a better torch with the profits from this heist." Lamp laughed. "Besides I just about used up the last of the gas, and those cylinders were starting to leak anyway."

They both ran up the stairs carrying the strong boxes full of gems. "Hopefully we'll get a good price for this stuff from the fence." Skunk said.

"Well Hamegg owes me one," Lamp said, "We'll go to him first."

Lamp struggled to get his old van started, and then ground gears again getting the old transmission into first. They slowly drove off leaving a huge blue smoke cloud in their wake.

The corner of the rear basement glistened where the concrete had been softened by the underground seepage. The old gas station a hundred or so meters away and been leaking high grade petro into the ground for nearly a decade. While the excavation crews had removed a large amount of the gasoline and diesel saturated soil, a large yet undiscovered tongue of it extended under the alley and into the basement of the auction building. Only two of the four underground fuel tanks had been removed from the station property so far, the cleanup crew still had more digging to do before the cleanup would be finished. Skunk's smoldering cigar lay only inches from the petrol soaked corner of the basement...


	3. Chapter 3

**And Everything Nice**

**3.**

**Astro **was the first student to arrive in the homeroom class. Blossom and Bubbles showed up a few minutes later, and once again Buttercup barely made it into the classroom before the tardy bell sounded.

"I overslept!" the green eyed teenager told her friends.

"Up late watching anime reruns on Adult Swim again?" Blossom asked.

"None of your business, but yeah!" Buttercup said. "So what classes do we have today?"

"Looks like Miss Keane's history class, Mr. Stein for science, and Dr. Mattac's Algebra class." Astro said, looking at his schedule. "First thing this morning is P.E. I think it's going to be indoors today though, looks like rain outside."

"Too bad." Buttercup said, "I was looking forward to embarrassing you again on the soccer field!"

"That ain't going to happen twice!" Astro replied.

* * *

**Maxx **Bidd, theowner of the downtown auction house arrived with his partners early to setup the display area for prospective customers. Most of the items that would be placed on the block were already in their display cases or on the stage in the main auditorium on the fourth floor. Only the Morebucks collection wasn't present, it being locked in the basement safe. Maxx and his two partners took the elevator down to the basement level, where they found the door to the vault had been opened and the alarm panel tampered with. The safe had been broken into and its contents were lying all over the floor of the vault room. Maxx quickly called the police to report the robbery.

Inspector Gumshoe arrived within twenty minutes with two other officers. "Looks like the work of Acetylene Lamp," the inspector said. "What's missing?"

"Looks like the thieves were only after the Morebucks collection." Maxx Bidd said. "All the other jewelry in the safe wasn't touched. Of course, that was the most valuable set in there."

"We'll dust for prints, but this Lamp character knows his business. He always wears gloves." The inspector said. "We'll be gone in about ten minutes, you can open for business as usual. I'll call you if I have any news."

Sighing, Maxx took the elevator back upstairs and started to prepare for the pre-bid inspection. The crowd would be disappointed with the Morebucks collection missing, but there was still a sizable amount of other items that would be going up for bids later in the late afternoon.

* * *

**The **morning P.E. class was restricted to an indoor session in the gymnasium due to a constant drizzle that kept the outdoor play field damp. Buttercup voiced her complaint about the situation to Mr. Gehrig, who just shrugged his shoulders and cited school regulations. He gave the class a choice of activities which included basket ball. Buttercup grabbed one of the balls and started dribbling across the gym, taking long shots at the basket, making most of them. Before he knew what was happening, Astro found himself involved in a one on one game against the green eyed tomboy. Buttercup zigzagged back and forth, her reflexes somehow faster than Astro's. Before he knew what had happened, she was two goals ahead of him, and not even winded.

Astro recovered a rebound, and made his way across the court with Buttercup blocking him from taking a shot at the goal. Finally Astro saw an opening and jumped to shot. Buttercup jumped up in front of him and grabbed the ball about ten feet in the air! 'No way!' Astro thought to himself. The only way that she could have done that was to fly!

* * *

**Across **town the auction house had just opened to the public. Several dozen people were inspecting the items for sale up on the auditorium stage. The pre-auction showing was on the fourth floor of the building. One of the two elevators in the old building was down for repairs, and the one in service was the smaller one that ran slowly. The patrons complained about having to crowd into the small lift to get upstairs, but the crowd slowly grew as the morning went on.

Down in the basement Skunk's cigar still smoldered. Across the alley, the work crews had just started to load more of the combustible dirt into the waiting trucks to be hauled away. The back hoe driver began to dig at a new location to uncover one of the remaining 10,000 gallon fuel tanks still buried under the former gas station.

"CRAP!" The heavy machine operator muttered.

The foreman waked over to the excavation site and looked into the hole. "Looks like you punctured that old tank with the power shovel," he said. "I think the tank split open, we're going to have a big mess on our hands!"

About a thousand gallons of fuel poured out of the old tank. The stream of liquid followed gravity downhill and poured under the alley into the basement of the building on the other side. The concrete floor of the basement, already crumbling in the corner from years of underground moisture seepage, started to bubble with the flow of gasoline. The advancing vapors reached the glowing cigar butt and ignited.

Lamps two gas cylinders were not quite as empty as he had thought. They had been slowly out venting while sitting in the corner of the basement forming an explosive bubble near the ceiling.

* * *

**Bubbles, **Blossom and Buttercup sat in the back of Miss Keane's history class, while Astro had been assigned a seat near the front of the room near the window which faced towards downtown. The girls were half paying attention to their teacher, while passing notes back and forth about some cute boy in another class. Astro stood up to answer a question when he thought he heard something. He cupped his hands to his ears and cranked his hearing up to 1000 times power to hear the rumble of an explosion. Astro turned to face the window and could barely make out a mushroom shaped cloud of smoke rising in the sky in the direction of downtown. He zoomed his eyes into telephoto mode and saw the flames shooting high into the air.

"Er Miss Keane?" Astro said in a panic.

"Yes Astro, what is it?" the teacher asked.

Astro left his seat and walked up to the teachers desk. He whispered something into her ear.

"Why yes, I guess you'd better get going then." Miss Keane said, "You're excused."

* * *

**Not **too far away in Professor Utonium's laboratory the computer control panel started buzzing. Ken quickly ran over to the monitor to see what the alarm was all about. "Dad!" he yelled, "Look at this!"

A map image had formed on the screen showing a blinking red icon in the downtown New Townsville area. "Looks like a large explosion and a fire." The professor said. He zoomed a web cam view and saw flames shooting out of a building with people hanging out the window. "I don't know if the fire department will get there in time."

"Right," Ken said, knowing what he had to do. "Poochi, call the girls!" he said.

The robot dog stood up and put his paws to his mouth. "POWER PUFF GIRLS WE NEED YOU!"

**In **the back of Miss Keane's history class the belt buckles worn by Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup began to beep and glow. "Oh no not again!" Buttercup moaned. She stood up waving her hand "Miss Keane, my head hurts!" Bubbles followed her yelling "My ears are ringing!", Blossom added "And I have a splitting tooth ache!"

"I guess you'd better go see the nurse again!" Miss Keane said.

The three girls ran out of the class room and took the stairway up to the roof. They got there just in time to see Astro jumping off the roof and flying away. They quickly transformed themselves into the Power Puff's and blasted skyward in the same direction that Astro had just gone.

"**Wow, **I've been beating a robot kid at sports?" Buttercup yelled. "I bet that Uran kid is his little sister."

"Makes sense." Bubbles replied, grabbing the blinking compact on her belt. "Looks like there's a huge fire in the downtown area. That must be the emergency Ken and the professor called us for."

"Right!" Blossom cried out. "Now just how are we going to save the day today?"

* * *

**After **the pool of gasoline in the basement had ignited, the flames touched off a secondary fireball as the cloud of oxygen and acetylene near the ceiling exploded forming a fireball that engulfed the two gas tanks which were not completely empty. They went off like a bomb, sending a column of flame upward through the wooden floors above the basement. A tongue of flame shot back under the alley returning to the source of the fuel. The remaining fuel in the two tanks still buried underground detonated, sending a secondary fireball high into the sky. The blast blew both tanks skyward out of the ground like intercontinental ballistic missiles, they came crashing back to earth across the street setting two other tall buildings on fire. The backhoe was also blasted across the street, smashing into yet another building, its operator now trapped under a pile of rubble. Two large propane tanks in another part of the auction house basement blew up from the heat, feeding the flames.

Panic filled the fourth floor as smoke blocked the staircases and the remaining elevator refused to operate. The auction patrons leaned out the windows for some air, scanning the view around them hoping that the fire department would get there before they burned to death.

**Astro **hovered over the scene and quickly looked around. There were now several large buildings damaged and burning. He could see people trapped in the burning buildings at many of the windows. Before he could decide what to do first his three classmates arrived and hovered in the air around him.

"There are people trapped in the rubble in several of the buildings!" Blossom yelled to him. "Go rescue them! I'll take care of the people who can get out of the high story windows. Bubbles, you and Buttercup see about putting out the fires!"

Astro was greatly surprised to see the Power Puff girls, but he was glad to have help. He nodded his approval of the plan and dove into the building where the backhoe had been blown into the basement trapping the operator. He rapidly dug out the machine from the ton of bricks and steel that lay on top of it, then he pried open the machines cab to get the operator out. The man had a broken leg which Astro splinted using a board and cloth from the mans clothes.

Buttercup flew over the fire raging in the middle of the former gas station, which now looked like an erupting volcano. She swung her gigantic hammer to create a shock wave that blew out the fire in much the same way that Red Adair once extinguished oil well fires using nitroglycerin.

Bubbles waved her huge bubble wand to send a shower of bubbles that extinguished many smaller fires burning in the streets and the buildings.

Blossom used her yoyo as a rescue line to lower several people at a time from the windows of the buildings to safety.

By the time the New Townsville fire department finally reached the scene, most of the fires had been put out and the trapped victims were out of harms way. Astro and the Power Puff girls hovered over the scene. "Looks like our work is done here!" Blossom said.

"Yeah time for a high five!" Buttercup cried out. The four of them stuck out their right hands for a mutual high five. "Hey guys, I think we need to get back to class." Bubbles said.

"I'll race you back, robot boy!" Buttercup laughed at Astro.

"This is one race you are going to loose!" Astro said with a sneer.

"OK, you're on!" Buttercup replied, "On the count of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BLASTOFF!"

Astro went hypersonic using his leg and arm rockets, causing a sonic boom that blew out windows along his route. Buttercup left a green ion trail wake in the sky as she tried to keep up with him, with Blossom and Bubbles way behind with their orange and blue vapor trails.


	4. Chapter 4

**And Everything Nice**

**4.**

**Astro **and Uran sat together on the bus on the way home from school. "What happened today Ani?" Uran asked, "I heard you got chewed out by Inspector Tawashi in the principals office."

"Yeah guess I shouldn't have gone hypersonic so low to the ground in a populated area," he said shrugging his shoulders, "the city's insurance company is going to have to fork out for all the windows I blew out."

"Why did you do that?" Uran asked.

"It's all Buttercup's fault." Astro moaned, "She goaded me into racing her back to school after we put out the fires in the downtown area today."

"I don't understand." Uran said.

"Er, you ever hear of the Power Puff girls?" Astro asked.

"Yeah, they're a bunch of teenage super heroes, I read about them in my Tigerbeat magazine."

"Oh, well in real life it seems that's who Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup really are." Astro said, "Who knew?"

"Wow!" Uran said.

"Of course, they had never heard of me." Astro added, "Can you imagine? They never heard of Astro Boy! I guess New Townsville is like a world apart from Metro City, even though one is a suburb of the other."

"By the way Ani, how did that fire get started?" Uran asked.

"I don't know." Astro said, "Tawashi probably had the fire department comb though the buildings looking for signs of arson by now. Something set off a blast in the excavation of an old gas station in the area, those old fuel tanks must have been leaking for years, so it could have just been an accident."

* * *

**When **Astro and Uran arrived home Inspector Tawashi's police car was parked in front of their house.

"Looks like we may find out some more, Ani." Uran said as they entered the house.

"Hello Astro," Tawashi said.

"Hi inspector. What's up?" Astro asked.

"Thought you'd like to know that fire wasn't an accident." The inspector said. "Early this morning there was a break in at the auction house and someone cut their way into the safe with a torch. It had all the markings of Acetylene Lamp's handiwork written all over it. We found the remains of welding gas cylinders in the rear basement of the building, along with ash from a cigar. We also found Skunk Kusai's prints on the doorknob of the rear of the building. Looks like the two of them teamed up and made off with about 10,000,000 Yen worth of diamonds."

"You mean they deliberately set that fire to cover their tracks?" Dr. O'Shay asked.

"I'm not sure." The inspector said, "there was a large pool of gasoline seeping into the basement from the excavation across the street, it looks like Skunk left a smoldering cigar in the basement not far from the area soaked in the fuel. He may have intended to set that fire, or he may have just been careless. I blame myself for not noticing it, we answered a call about the burglary just minutes before that fire started. If only I'd inspected the entire basement …. Astro, I'd like you to help us search the city for Kusai and Lamp. They could be anywhere now."

"Sure inspector." Astro said.

"Only you have school tomorrow, Astro." O'Shay said. "You can go out for a few hours, but not any longer than that."

"OK, Hakase" Astro sighed.

"Let me know if you find anything," The inspector said as he replaced his hat on his head and walked out.

"**By **the way Astro," Dr. O'Shay said, "I heard about your team work with the girls today."

"You know about the Power Puff Girls?" Astro asked."

"Yes, Dr. Utonium and I are good friends, though I haven't seen him for some time." O'Shay remarked. "I've offered him a job at the Institute, but he preferred to set up his own laboratory on the other side of city. He felt guilty about what happened last year and asked me to keep quiet about it, but I guess it's OK if you know the story."

"You mean about the girls?" Astro asked.

"Exactly," The doctor replied. "We had an unusually cold winter last year, which was probably caused by shifts in the upper atmosphere due to global warming. Several large glaciers broke free from the arctic and drifted south ending up in the harbor. It snowed for several weeks straight. Dr. Utonium and his son Ken had been working on a chemical that they thought could neutralize green house gases and they tried using in a particle beam cannon to reverse the effects of our unusually cold winter. Unfortunately there was an unseen side effect that resulted in the formation of strange EMP bursts in the tops of towering cumulonimbus clouds over the city which released what the professor later called "Z-rays" upon the city. Three teenagers were struck by those bursts, which caused strange mutations in their bodies, giving them unique abilities."

"The Power Puff girls?" Astro asked.

"Exactly," O'Shay said. "The same cloud also released negative Z-rays which caused less desirable mutations in other people, plants and animals. That has been hushed up and the details kept from the public. Only the New Townsville district was involved. The girls have manged to contain the problem, but they could use some help. That's why I had you transferred to school in that part of town."

* * *

**Hamegg **looked through the diamond paper envelopes, using a jeweler's eye loupe attached to his reading glasses to inspect the goods. "Very nice, but of course quite recognizable on the open market and too well known," he complained, "but I can have them re-cut and still make a profit." he added, scribbling a figure onto a scrap of paper and handing it to Skunk.

Skunk made a face and showed the slip to Lamp. "You've got to be shitting us, Hamegg," Lamp scowled. "That's only a tenth of the rocks value, and you know it! Besides, you owe me, if I hadn't put my neck on the line you'd still be pounding rocks in the pen."

Hamegg shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Well I suppose I could double my offer."

"Twice nothing is still nothing!" Lamp yelled.

"You'll triple your offer," Skunk smiled, "because you know we'll bring you some more business in the future that will be worth your while."

"You drive a hard bargain," Hamegg said, offering his hand in agreement. "Care to shake on the deal?"

"Fine." Lamp said. "In cash!"

"Of course." Hamegg said. He turned around to face a picture of the emperor that was hanging on the wall, and removed the framed portrait to reveal a wall safe. He quickly spun the combination and opening the safe removed a bound stack of bills which he quickly counted before handing them over to Skunk.

"You scoundrel!" Lamp said, "You knew what you would pay for those and had the money ready in advance!"

"I know how you guys think." Hamegg said, "So I left myself some room to let you have the satisfaction of haggling with me. It's a tradition."

* * *

**Kusai **and Lamp drove away in the old van. "First think I'm going to do with my share of the take is to trade this POS in on a new SUV," Lamp said.

"Let's see about finding ourselves a better place to stay." Skunk said. "I've had my eye on a nice flat on the nicer side of town for some time now. Looks like we will be able to afford it now." He handed Lamp a slip of paper with some writing on it. "Drive us over to this address and we'll check it out."

Lamp looked at the address and made a left turn at the next street. "Well this windfall won't last us forever," Lamp replied. "Any ideas for our next job?"

"Don't rush me, I'm working on it." Skunk replied.

A sudden gust of wind blew the van against the curb. Lamp struggled with the wheel as the sky seemed to turn black for an instant. There was a clap of thunder and both men passed as the equivalent of an electric shock passed though their bodies. A black Z ray had come down from the clouds and struck their vehicle head on.

* * *

**Buttercup **entered the laboratory to find Professor Utonium and Ken looking at a computer screen in a panic state. Bubbles and Blossom entered the room a few moments later, just as the professor noticed them.

"Good thing you guys decided to show up," Ken said, "A black cloud appeared on the radar out of nowhere and there have been two reported Z ray strikes already. We're trying to get a fix on the last one now."

"Great." Blossom sighed, "The fire downtown today was bad enough, now what kind of crazy stuff are we going to have to go up against this time, talking pizzas?"

"Well with any luck those Z rays may have missed hitting anything that can turn into a monster." The professor said. "Poochi, do you sense anything?"

"No." the robot dog replied.

"Well that's good." Bubbles sighed.

"So I understand you guys had some help with the fire today." The professor said.

"Yeah, Astro Boy arrived on the scene about the same time we did." Buttercup said. "You know, he's in my P.E. class, I kicked his butt in soccer and basketball and I didn't know he was a robot until I saw him jump of the roof of the school ahead of us and fly away."

"I was meaning to tell you about him." Ken said, "but I never got the chance. He and his kid sister are in the same school as you this year."

"We already met Uran," the girls replied together.

"They also have an older brother named Kobaruto who's out of town in college." The professor added, "So you probably won't be meeting him."

"You know," Poochi said, "I have a bad feeling that things are going to get worse around here, and it will be a good thing that we have Astro nearby in New Townsville."

* * *

**Pabst **Hops walked around the old gas tank following the engineer he'd hired to inspect the old structure. He'd meet the structural engineer in a bar just a few days after he'd found the old structure on the edge of the New Townsville district for sale. Pabst new little about engineering and was all too happy to hire the man in exchange for a piece of his profits after expansion of his business. Both men had agreed to the partnership over a few glasses of happoshu.

Lamp stopped periodically to take a closer look at sections of the tank, and kept notes on a form attached to a clipboard. "So how does it look?" Hops asked.

The engineer reached up to place his pencil behind his ear and turned to face his employer. "The tank's in better shape than one would expect for something its age," he said, "probably because the natural gas that it once held acted as a rust retardant."

"So will it be safe to modify it for my needs?" Hops asked. I need to increase production, my micro brewery can't keep up with demand, and I'm loosing customers! I need to make use of this tank for the storage and aging of my happoshu."

"No problem!" Lamp lied though his teeth, "We merely need to line the inside of the thing to hold your product, and install a bit of bracing here and there."

"Phew!" Hops said "Things are looking up! I'm glad I meet you."

"Sure." Lamp smiled, I'll have my contractors at your disposal in a few days."

Hops got into his car and drove off, and Lamp jumped into the front seat of his new SUV.

"So how'd it go?" Skunk asked while looking at himself in the visor mirror. He still couldn't figure out what had happened to him and Lamp. After that energy force had hit them had laid unconscious in Lamp's van until morning. Skunk's completion and hair color had changed, his new look would fool the police and that stupid boy robot. Lamp also had been changed by the discharge, he no longer needed those thick glasses to see, and the flat spot on the back of his head was gone.

"He went for it hook line and sinker." Lamp laughed. "I told you I knew enough about structural engineering to throw the bull at him. You sure your contacts at the construction firm can do the job?"

"No problem." Skunk replied. "They'll do a good enough job for your new partner to run off enough product to make it worth our while. We'll grab ourselves enough of his excellent ale and make a killing on the black market. If that tank goes kablooey after that, who cares, we'll have made enough on the deal and poor Mr. Hops will be left holding the bag."

"Yeah, well that tank actually is in pretty sorry shape." Lamp laughed. "It probably will burst after two or three runs of happoshu, but we'll be long gone by then."

* * *

"**Any **sign of Lamp or Skunk?" Inspector Tawashi asked.

"None." Astro sighed. "It's like they just vanished or became invisible or something."

"I can't believe that they left town." Tawashi said. "I've got the force on alert and there is an outstanding APB out for them. They may low for a while, but mark my words, they will surface again."

"You're probably right, inspector." Astro agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

**And Everything Nice**

**5.**

**Buttercup **held the bowl up to her face and used the chopsticks to spoon the rice into her mouth. She plucked individual bits of vegetables, shrimp and salmon from the bowl with the chopsticks, eating them one at a time. Buttercup got stares from her mother and tried to eat like a young lady, but she was quite hungry and ended up mimicking her father, wolfing down the meal.

Buttercup's dad was a professional wrestler, and he never took off the horned blue mask that he wore in the ring, except when showering, he even slept in it.

"Dad, am I ever going to see your face?" she asked.

"I told you I made a vow never to remove this mask until the day I retire from wrestling," her father said.

"Shess!" Buttercup groaned looking at her mother, "I bet you you have to look at that mask when the two of you sleep together!" she said giving her mom the evil eye (nudge, nudge, wink, wink!).

"That's none of your business, young lady!" her mom said, almost choking on a bit of mushroom.

Her father put down his empty bowl and quickly changed the subject, "So how was your day, Buttercup?"

"Same old, same old," the green eyed teen said, sighing. She really wanted to tell her dad all about her superpowers and all the hero stuff she went through with her fellow Power Puffs, but they had taken a vow to keep their identities a secret. Only professor Utonium, Ken, his dog Poochie, and now that robot kid Astro knew who the Power Puff girls really were.

* * *

**Pabst **Hops stared up at the huge tank. The six story high structure once held natural gas for the Metro City gas company. It had become useless scrap metal when the utility had gone out of business and shut down, a victim of changing times. Cheap electric power provided by solar, wind, tidal generators, thermal vents, and nuclear fusion had displaced the use of fossil fuels in Japan. Even aircraft were retrofitted to burn the clean hydrogen cracked from ocean water by cheap electric power.

When the city had put the old tank up for auction, Hops saw the possibility of using it as part of a huge fermentation tank for his brewery. He then lucked out in finding an engineer with contacts in the construction business able to retrofit the aging tank. The crew had just arrived and were already at work with their welding equipment, cutting away parts of the old structure and adding new bits. Soon its insides would be fitted with a plastic lining that would hold the thousands of gallons of happoshu that his brewery would be producing.

* * *

**Inspector **Tawashi thought he recognized the man standing on line in front of him while waiting for the teller at the bank to deposit his pay check. The man walked by him winking at the inspector and laughing to himself. Tawashi could have sworn that it was Skunk Kusai, but the mans complexion and hair color were all wrong, and he didn't look like he was wearing makeup.

Lamp was waiting in his shinny new SUV for his partner. "It must feel strange to be making a deposit in a bank instead of a withdrawal at gunpoint." Lamp laughed.

"You don't know the half of it," Skunk cackled. "That stupid flat foot Tawashi was in line ahead of me. I gave him the evil eye as I walked past him. He didn't recognize me, but I bet I really got under his skin."

"Yeah, what happened to us?" Lamp asked. "After we got struck by that black lightning we woke up looking about 20 years younger. I feel great, like I could bench press a few hundred pounds."

"Me too." Skunk replied, "I looked in the mirror last night and couldn't believe the changes in my body. So what's our next move?"

"How long do you think it will take for your construction friends to turn that old gas tank into a brewery?" Lamp asked.

"They'll have Mr. Hops ready to run his first batch of happoshu in a few weeks." Skunk said. "I told them to add an extra drain port with a hidden pipe so we can sneak up with a tanker truck and drain off a few thousand gallons for ourselves. What about your connections on the delivery end?"

"No sweat." Lamp replied. "My mob connections are all set. We'll be underselling Mr. Hobs with his own product in markets he never knew he didn't have."

* * *

**Astro **adjusted the straps of the rollerblades so the inline skates fit perfectly over his boots. This time for his P.E. class was now going to play roller hockey with the rest of the class, and once again he and Buttercup found each other on opposing sides. "I can't win for loosing!" Astro thought to himself.

Tamo stood nervously in the middle of the field. He was wearing a black and white stripped shirt, the uniform of the game official, the black rubber puck in his hand and a whistle hanging from a string around his neck. Nobody had picked him to play on either side, so being the odd kid remaining, he was given the job of refereeing the game. He quickly dropped the rubber playing piece on the ground between the two teams and beat a hasty retreat barely in time to avoid the flying sticks.

Astro almost got wood on the puck, but Buttercup beat him to it. She slapped the round object towards her team's goal just as Astro swung at air. "Damm, she did it again!" Astro muttered under his breath as his took off, the wheels on his skates screaming as they rotated at several thousand RPM.

Buttercup and Abercrombie relayed the puck back and forth between them, keeping just a few feet ahead of Astro's best efforts to catch up. The boy robot knew he could overtake them using just one of his arm jets, but that would be cheating. Astro's electronic brain computed that he wouldn't be able to intercept them and take over the puck to make a run for the other goal, but maybe he could prevent them from scoring. He made a straight line across the field and back towards the goal, arriving in front of the cage just as Buttercup blasted the puck towards the scoring line. Astro blocked the shot with his own stick, just as his teams goalie lined up to do the same. The puck made a bounce on a rough bit of pavement just at the last second to strike the top of Astro's stick, and was deflected over his head into the goal cage.

"Rats!" Astro thought to himself. "I stink at this game!"

**Astro **unstrapped the skates and the (totally unnecessary) shin guards, and threw the equipment into the large basket in the corner of the locker room. He quickly got out of his gym uniform and into his school clothes. "Hey don't feel bad Astro," Tamao said, patting him on the back, "Buttercup makes most of the guys look like wimps. Guess she takes after her dad, the masked wrestler."

"Thank's Tamao," Astro replied. "You know I could beat her, but I have to be real careful in sports not to over do it."

"Yeah I know," Tamao sighed, cleaning his glasses. "I guess it's hard for a robot to play with human kids, you have to limit yourself to our level."

* * *

**The **girls took their seats in the back of Ms. Keane's history class. "Ever since that fire last week, it's been quiet again in New Townsville." Bubbles said.

"Yeah." Blossom agreed. "We've been able to get our school work done for a change."

"Too bad." Buttercup smiled. "I'd love for us to meet up with Astro again as the Power Puff Girls. I had a lot of fun today embarrassing him on the Hockey field."

"You really like him don't you?" Bubbles said.

"Oh come on, he's just a robot." Buttercup snapped back.

"You don't fool me a bit," Blossom replied, "I can see you making eyes at him."

Buttercup quickly turned her head away from the corner of the room where Astro was seated. "Who me?"

* * *

**Ken, **Poochi and Dr. Utonium sat around a table. The doctor and his son were on opposite sides of the table, with Poochi sitting between them. They sat in silence contemplating the chess board that sat between them. "Your move Dad," Ken said.

"I'm thinking!" the doctor replied with his hand hovering over the board. He was about the grab his queen when the robot dog muttered, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Hey, don't interfere with the game," Ken snarled at his pet.

Dr. Utonium withdrew his hand from over the board and started scratching his chin with it. He then picked up his remaining rook and moved it across the board.

"Check!" he announced.

"Really?" Ken muttered as he captured the attacking piece with his bishop.

"Opps, didn't see that." his father sighed, moving his queen over two spaces.

Ken studied the board for a few minutes and nonchalantly moved a rook over two spaces.

"Checkmate." he announced.

The doctor threw his hands up in the air and walked away from the table towards the window.

"It's been real quite around here," he said. "We haven't seen the girls for several weeks now."

"They're probably busy with their school work." Poochi answered, "and it seems they only come over here when some thing's up, or they're bored."

"Or to rob some of my candy." Ken added.

* * *

**Over **on the other side of town PabstHops watched as the construction crew packed up their trucks. Lamp handed the owner of the brewery an invoice and smiled. "The modifications are all done, all you have to do is install your equipment and start brewing your beer."

Mr. Hops looked over the bill and then filled out a check. "Here's the final payment, Mr. Lamp," he said. Why don't you and your associate come by in about two weeks and have a taste of the best happoshu there is?"

"Yeah, sure." Lamp laughed. "Why not?"

Acetylene got into his SUV and looked to the right where Skunk was seated.

"How did it go?" Kusai asked.

"Seems we passed the baka's inspection." Lamp laughed. "Maybe your motley crew actually did a proper job."

"I highly doubt it." Skunk replied. "They cut too many corners. Still they do know how to put on a good show."

"We've been invited to come back in a few weeks to taste his brew." Lamp added. "Think it will be safe?"

"Yeah, probably." Skunk said. "Hops should be able to run his brewery for maybe a month before things go to hell."


	6. Chapter 6

**And Everything Nice**

**6.**

**Buttercup's **dad had his masked head buried in the newspaper at the breakfast table. "Well, you will look at this!" he cried out holding the paper open to a full page advertisement. "Looks like my favorite brand of micro brewed happoshu has gone mainstream!"

Buttercup leaned forward to take a look at the page her father was holding up. 'Micro no more!' read the advertisement. 'We've gone Mega!'

There in a glorious full color was a picture of a huge brew tank. Judging by the people standing next to the monster, it must have stood a good 5 stories tall.

'Our new brewery facility will be producing our favorite organic smooth Happoshu beer in several varieties, including an alcohol free brew that is destined to become a favorite among teenagers.'

"Is that the stuff you once caught me sneaking a taste of?" the green eyed teen asked. "Sure is," her father answered, "It was always in short supply, I'd buy a case every time the store got some more in stock. Sounds like they've finally solved the supply problem."

"Hey it says here they are going to have an open house next week, and that they're going to be giving away free samples to everyone that shows up for the grand opening," Buttercup read.

"Let me see that!" her dad said snatching the newspaper out of his daughter's hands. "Wow, you're right. The brewery is opening a store at the new facility and there'll be a tour of the place too. Hey you want to come along?"

"You going to wear your mask?" she laughed.

"Maybe not." her father said. "I guess I can be out of character for once. Besides, I'm tired of being hounded by autograph hunters!"

"Well in that case," Buttercup smiled, "I'd love to come along. About time I was able to spend some quality time with my old man!"

* * *

**Pabst Hops **barked orders to the ten newly hired workers who were now busily mixing the ingredients for the light beer into the first of the mixing chambers. He walked around the huge tank that was now being filled with water in preparation for the fermentation of the first batches of happoshu. The tank contained three separate chambers, the two larger one would be used for the fermentation of his dark brew, and a lighter beer, the smallest would be used for the production of the new alcohol free happoshu he would be introducing to the market. As the liquid level in the tank rose he inspected the pipe fittings and looked carefully at the outer structure of the tank. Everything seemed to be in order.

**Skunk **slapped Lamp on the top of his head and pushed the newspaper into his face. "Look what Hop's is up to." He said, "He's going to be giving away the first batch of his brew in a weeks time."

"Hey, that's smart thinking on his part." Lamp laughed. "We'll hijack his second run after he's stoked up demand by giving out samples of the first."

"Yeah, you're right." Skunk replied, "I didn't think of that."

"Well let's make sure that tanker truck we're going to need is available," Lamp said, "I can just taste the profits now!"

* * *

"**What's **happoshu?" Astro asked.

"It's a mildly alcoholic beverage similar to beer or saki," Professor Ochanomizu told him.

"You like it?" the boy robot asked.

"Most human males have developed a taste for it," the professor replied. "would you like to try some?"

"It wouldn't have the same effect on me as it does on you, Hakase," Astro replied.

"I'm sure it wouldn't!" his guardian laughed. "However your taste sensors would find something new to analyze."

"Well in that case, I guess I'll go along with you to this event." Astro said.

"Thank you," the professor smiled, "I'd enjoy your company."

* * *

**Buttercup **spotted Astro on line with the professor a few people ahead of her and her father. "Hey Astro!" she yelled "I didn't know robots liked beer!"

Astro turned around to see his classmate behind him. "Hi Buttercup!" he yelled back. "I'm with Ochanomizu-Hakase, my guardian. Aren't you a little young yourself to drink beer?"

"They have a non-alcoholic version my dad said I could taste," she cried back. "OH this is my old man," she added pointing to the adult standing next to her.

"Hello sir!" Atom waved back.

* * *

**Skunk **and Lamp had just finished filling the small tanker truck they'd parked out behind the brewery. "Good think we had that pipe installed to drain out the bottom of the brewery vessel," Lamp said.

"Yeah, and even better we discovered the old gas pipe that ran under the street. We can come back anytime and sample Mr. Hop's latest run any time we want." Skunk cackled.

"Shall we go?" Lamp asked.

"Lets wait and see the reaction of the crowd to the taste test." Skunk suggested. "If anyone starts tossing their cookies after drinking his beer we can always empty the tanker truck down the nearest sewer."

* * *

**Dr. Utonium **and Ken parted their van across the street from the brewery. They stood at the end of a very long line of customers about a block away from the brewery. Poochi looked up at the professor with a questioning look on his face. "Why are we here?"

"To sample some free beer," the professor told him.

Ken laughed, "I don't know what grown ups see in the stuff, but I'm willing to taste the alcohol free version of the stuff," he told his pet dog.

* * *

**Pabst Hops **looked at his watch and saw that it was now time to open the doors to his store and allow the first customers to enter. He was simply amazed at the length of the line of people queued up, the advertisements he'd posted in the news papers and on line must have done the job. He took a deep breath and could smell the pungent aroma of his wonderful happoshu. The thought hadn't occurred to him that the smell was a bit stronger than it should have been, but the excitement of the moment kept him from realizing it.

Mr. Hops motioned to one of his assistants to open the door. The employees of the brewery escorted the crowd in a dozen at a time. Each group of twelve was escorted around the plant and given a tour of the facility. Once the group had seen everything they returned to where Mr. Hops was behind a bar serving out samples of his brews.

Buttercup and her dad finally reached the front of the line. "Welcome to the Pabst Hops mega-micro brewery!," a pretty young woman wearing dark bib overall jeans and a denim apron said. She lead them through the factory floor where the ingredients for the beer were measured out and added to large vats where water was added and the cooking process began. She pointed up to the large tank that once held natural gas, and explained how it had been divided into four different brewing tanks and lined with sanitary material that would promote the aging process. She explained how they were making three different kinds of their famous micro brewed beverages, and what the differences in the processes were.

Finally they reached the end of the tour, where a line was waiting to be served. Mr. Hops had lined up several rows of paper cups and was filling them as quickly as he could from a spigot on the end of a hose. Three buttons on the serving end allowed him to select which brew went into each cup. Buttercup picked up a cup standing in front of a sign reading 'Alcohol free'. Her father pulled a large silver stein from his jacket pocket and laughed, "I brought my own!" Mr. Hops smiled and held the spigot over the large stein and filled it to the brim with his premium brew.

**Astro **and the professor were not far behind Buttercup and her dad, they walked away from the bar and exited the building, each holding onto a paper cup. Astro slowly sipped his beer, not quite sure about the tasted. "So what do you think?" the professor asked.

"Interesting blend of carbohydrates, sugars, and proteins." Astro said.

"I didn't mean the chemical analysis," the professor laughed, "what about the taste."

"Pleasurable, although my electronic brain is not affected by the alcohol like your carbon based one," Astro replied, "So I can't comment on that property of the beer."

The paper cup suddenly fell from Atom's hands as he held his hands up to his ears. He sniffed the air as he rotated his head about. "Something's wrong, Hakase," he said. "I'm detecting a low frequency rumble coming from the back of the brewery and there is suddenly an increase in the concentration of alcohol molecules in the air."

Buttercup turned back to look at the brewery building when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She stopped dead in her tracks as her father continued to walk away, totally unaware of the fact that his daughter was no longer right behind him. "Iie!" she cried out as she started transforming into her powerpuff persona.

**Dr. Utonium, **Ken and Poochi exited the building, the professor and his son each sampling a different product. Poochi refused to taste any of the brew, and he walked ahead of the professor and Ken as they walked away from the brewery. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. "What's wrong Poochi?" Dr. Utonium asked. "My sensors are picking up a low frequency vibration coming from the brewery." the robot dog replied. "I also smell a strong scent of carbohydrate molecules on the breeze." The dog pointed back at the large brewery tank. "I think it's sprung a leak!" he shouted.

The professor turned and saw a small plume of liquid spraying from the side of the tank. It was growing larger as he watched. "Poochi, call the powerpuff girls! I think we might soon have a disaster on our hands!" Poochi put his hands up to his mouth and yelled "POWER PUFF GIRLS WE NEED YOU!"

**The **lockets on the belts that Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles wore suddenly began to glow and vibrate. Right next to the brewery Buttercup was already transformed when her belt began to vibrate. "Well NO DUH!" She thought as she leaped skyward to fly towards the tank.

Blossom and Bubbles were at the mall together shopping when their belts signaled the emergency. Bubbles opened her locket and saw the message from Poochi. "Looks like a disaster in the making downtown at the new mega-micro brewery!" she said. Fifteen seconds later, Bubbles and Blossom were on their way flying towards the brewery.

"**Hakase, **Run!" Astro yelled. "The brewery tank is going to rupture!"

"Yipes!" Ochanomizu cried, "There must be several hundred thousand gallons of beer in that tank! We'll all drown in beer if it ruptures! Do something Astro!"

"On my way!" the boy robot cried out as he took to the sky heading towards the tank.

* * *

**Parked **just behind the brewery Skunk and Lamp noticed the crowd had suddenly started running away from the facility.

"What's going on, they run out of beer?" Skunk asked.

"Holly shit!" Lamp yelled as he started the tanker truck's engine, "The tank has ruptured!"

* * *

**Astro **quickly flew towards the tall towering tank and hovered next to Buttercup.

"Good thing we were both here," Buttercup said, "But now what?"

The leak was up about two thirds of the way from the bottom of the huge brewery tank. It had started as a hole where several welds had failed, but now was extending downwards as the metal that held the outer skin together was cracking.

"I'm going to try and repair the welds with my lasers," Astro said, as he flew closer with his fingertip lasers firing. At first it seemed that he'd succeeded, but no sooner than he'd welded one crack, another one opened up elsewhere.

"It's no use, that tank is just too brittle." Buttercup said, "You're just shoveling shit against the tide!"

By that time bubbles and blossom had arrived. Astro was still sealing each new leak as they opened up, but already a river of beer was flowing down the street, and getting deeper. The people fleeing from the brewery were already knee deep in the stuff.

"This isn't working!" Astro sighed, "I need to get this tank the hell away from here and dump it someplace, only it isn't going to hold together much longer."

"I'll take care of that!" Bubbles yelled. She swung her giant bubble wand and quickly enclosed the tank in a tight bubble.

"Yeah!, Astro yelled, "That will keep it in one piece just long enough!"

Astro dove straight down into the ground and disappeared. "What's he doing?" Blossom asked.

"You'll see in about a second," Buttercup laughed.

Suddenly the huge tank rose above the ground. Astro was underneath lifting it high into the air. It was still leaking beer, but most of that was contained inside of the giant bubble surrounding it.

There's still this river of beer heading downtown, Blossom said.

"Let's fix that!" Buttercup cried. She swung her hammer down, crashing it into the river of beer. Her blow created a shock wave causing the liquid to turn to a foamy vapor that rose into the air. "My turn again!" Bubbles yelled as she waved her bubble wand. Every drop of the beer foam was no enclosed in a huge cloud of bubbles.

"Lets blow that out to sea!" the girls yelled. Blossom with her yo-yo and Buttercup with her hammer created a wind that picked up the beer cloud and carried it far away from New Townsville.

Astro returned to see that the area was almost back to normal.

"What happened to my brew tank?" Pabst Hobs asked.

"I dropped it in the ocean about a mile off shore," Astro said. "Sorry about that, but it was a total loss anyway."

"That's such a shame," Professor Ochanomizu said. "It was such great beer too. Maybe Astro could help you build a new one, I think we have some scrap parts in the Ministry's junk yard."

"I'd love to help!" Astro said.

"Me too!" Buttercup laughed. "It would make my dad happy,"

"I knew I shouldn't have hired that shady engineer and his partner with the construction crew." Hops said. "The price was just too good."

"Can you describe them?" Astro asked.

"Sure can." Hops said, giving Astro a verbal description of the two men.

"Hakase, that sounds like Skunk and Lamp." Astro said.

"Why am I not surprised?" the professor replied.

"Hey you guys," Blossom said, "I think they are getting away!" She pointed to a tanker truck that was now speeding down the street. Astro zoomed his eyes into telescopic mode to see who was driving the truck. "It's them alright," he yelled taking off after the truck with the power puff girls right behind him.

Blossom threw her yo-you at the truck, wrapping the cord around the rear bumper. She tried to hold the speeding tanker back but was still being pulled along with it like a fisherman in a small boat who had just hooked a whale.

Bubbles enveloped the truck in a giant bubble with a swish of her bubble wand. The truck lifted off the ground as the bubble rose into the sky. Astro then grabbed hold of the tanker and flew it back to what was left of the brewery. "Call the cops!" he yelled. "Tell Tawashi we got them!"

"Just one minute." Dr. Utonium said. These two are under the influence of black Z-rays. He ran over to his van an returned with his Z-Ray neutralizer gun. He aimed it at the two criminals and pulled the trigger releasing a barrage of blue,red,yellow and green rays. Skunk and Lamp morphed back into their usual appearances.

Just as soon as Utonium had finished the sound of a police siren grew closer and Tawashi's squad car arrived. "Good work Astro, I see you finally caught these two." he said.

"Well I had some help." The boy robot replied, pointing to the power puff girls.

"Thank you too, power puff girls." Tawashi said. "I've heard mostly good things about you."

The girls bowed at the inspector and giggles. "You're welcome!" they answered.

**The **Masked Marvel drummed his fingers on the kitchen table, while his wife and daughter watched.

"What's the problem dad?" Buttercup asked.

"I thought my favorite brew would finally be in good supply, but then the brand new brewery when kaplooie!" he sighed. "Well Mr. Hops did leave you a case of the stuff. Good think those criminals had stolen a few thousand gallons of it and Astro and the power puff girls recovered it."

"Yeah, but when that runs out there won't be anymore." he sighed.

"Astro is going to help rebuild the brewery." Buttercup replied, "Not the end of the world."

"Hey how do you know all that?" her father asked.

Buttercup thought quickly and answered, "Astro is in my P.E. class. We're close friends!"

"That's nice." her father said. "You two compete against each other in sports?"

"Damn right!" Buttercup laughed, "and I usually kick his butt!"

"That's my girl!" her father said proudly.


End file.
